Venezuela’s latest economic shortage — drinking water

posted at 6:01 pm on June 2, 2014 by Erika Johnsen

In order to combat what we are meant to believe is the work of malicious Venezuelan businesses owners hoarding-and-speculating with basic goods and services in order to wage an “economic war” against the regime of Nicolas Maduro — not to mention the murky yet ever-present conspiratorial capitalist forces interfering from abroad — the Venezuelan government announced last month that they would begin rationing water and electricity in order to cope with what they assured residents was merely a temporary problem.

Residents of the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, who already struggle to find toilet paper and deodorant, are facing a new shortage — drinking water.

The rationing of tap water amid a drought and a shortage of bottles because of currency controls are forcing people to form long lines at grocery stores and bottle shops as soon as deliveries are made. Truck drivers spend much of their day outside water dispatch centers as they try to meet demand.

“I used to have to wait an hour to refill the truck, but now I have to wait six,” said Carlos Miliani from his truck outside the Alpina dispatch center in eastern Caracas. “More trucks are lining up here because of the shortage of plastic containers and the fact that plants that bottle mineral water have shut down.” …

Regulated prices for bottled water have not been raised since November 2011, industry association Anber said in a May 19 statement. Since then, consumer prices have risen 110 percent, according to central bank data, while the bolivar has lost 87 percent of its value on the black market, according to dolartoday.com, a website that tracks the value on the Colombian border.

Some areas of Caracas are only receiving water service three days a week, and when water does flow, the stuff is so contaminated that few residents dare to drink it anyway. Winning.

And while Maduro was most put out last week by yet another alleged shadow plot to assassinate him designed by the right-wing fascists of his political opposition (backed by the United States, of course), he was full of praise for the Obama administration’s for speaking out against the Venezuelan sanctions recently passed by the House:

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said passage of legislation to impose sanctions on officials could cause his country to shut down its diplomatic missions in the United States, but he praised the Obama administration’s opposition to the bill and said it has led him to name a new top diplomat in Washington. …

Maduro spoke in response to comments by Assistant Secretary of State Roberta Jacobson, who once again urged the U.S. Senate to vote against the measure. The bill calls for freezing any U.S. assets and denying visas to Venezuelan officials accused of violating human rights during a wave of protests that started in February.

Maduro said that he had read the remarks “with great attention” and said the “leap toward good sense” had led him to name a new top diplomat in Washington.

Even lukewarm praise from Venezuela’s government is remarkable following an avalanche of denunciations. Maduro and his backers, following the path of former President Hugo Chavez, have repeatedly accused Washington of trying to topple him and have blamed the U.S. for stirring up the protests in which at least 42 people have died.

Blowback

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Sean Penn is always welcome in this wonderful communist paradise. America sucks, right Sean.next time you casually take a drink from your tap or drink $3.00 Evian, remember you hate America but you love your cash.

…who gives a shit about their water?…we have people in this country trying to get us killed…we’re the ones dying of thirst!

KOOLAID2 on June 2, 2014 at 6:21 PM

Its just that what goes on in Venezuela is a current model and a repeat of just about every leftist tyrannically run failure of a nation and could be a model of what may occur in our own Republic’s future. Sort of a PSA for us for what our progressives have in store for us if they get their utopia in place.

Its just that what goes on in Venezuela is a current model and a repeat of just about every leftist tyrannically run failure of a nation and could be a model of what may occur in our own Republic’s future. Sort of a PSA for us for what our progressives have in store for us if they get their utopia in place.

hawkeye54 on June 2, 2014 at 6:27 PM

…when I look at the media’s reaction to what is going on…we are already there!…the bites just are increasing…with frequency!

In order to combat what we are meant to believe is the work of malicious Venezuelan businesses owners hoarding-and-speculating with basic goods and services in order to wage an “economic war” against the regime of Nicolas Maduro — not to mention the murky yet ever-present conspiratorial capitalist forces interfering from abroad…

Between all the petite bourgeoisie revanchist profiteering and the counterrevolutionary Trotskyite organizations abroad with their lapdogs within the USA government restricting rainfall with the devious HARP, how are the people to survive.

Perseverance, comrades, that is how, the might and will of the people shall win out…

Time will pass. The graves of the odious traitors will be overgrown with weeds, covered with the eternal contempt of Venezuelan people, of the whole Venezuelan nation. But over us, over our happy country, our sun will shine with its bright rays as clearly and joyfully as before. We, our nation, will walk as we did before, on a road cleansed of the last impurity and vileness of the past, following our beloved leader and teacher — the great Maduro — forward and ever forward, to Tyrannical DictatorshipCommunism Socialism !!!1!!elventy!!

So until the moment of our inevitable and ultimate victory, top scientists in the field would like to remind the people that eight drops of bleach will purify one gallon of water, double dosing recommended for urine…

I lived in Caracas during the 90s. There were always days the water was turned off. That was because the city water system leaked so much they turned it off to conserve water. We and many others had water tanks we drew from to avoid the off times. What this is referring to is the water of the barrios. Those are huge squatter communities around Caracas. There is no plumbing in them and they depend on water trucks to bring them water. The barrios have been big supporters of Chavez. I wonder if their support for Maduro will dry up.

I lived in Cabimas more than 20 years ago. They would only turn the water on for 2 hours every day in some parts. This plus the fact that it was so hot you left footprints on the asphalt made it a miserable place to be.